Cody Spafford, 26, was the sous chef at The Walrus and the Carpenter in Ballard and a bartender at neighboring Barnacle, the Seattle Times reported. Spafford — who by many reports was a well-liked man with little history of violence — was shot by Seattle police after approaching police detectives with a knife he refused to drop, Seattle police said.

Spafford was allegedly dressed in makeup, a wig and a skirt when he robbed a bank near East Madison Street and McGilvra Boulevard around 9:15 a.m. Thursday. Following the robbery, Spafford crashed his getaway car and ran off, spurring a two-hour long police search.

Police finally spotted Spafford in the 100 block of 39th Avenue East and witnesses heard four to five police gunshots.

Spafford was killed at the scene, police said.

Spaffords co-worker Renee Erickson told The Stranger she was saddened to hear a man she liked and respected could allegedly do something so outside his personality such as rob a bank.

“Everyone is just turned totally upside down and blindsided by it all,” Erickson told the Stranger. “This wasn’t the Cody that we knew and loved.”

Erickson questioned whether it was necessary to shoot a man that was about 125 pounds.

Spafford had a brief criminal history of non-violent crimes that included felony marijuana possession and failure to stop upon command of law enforcement, the Seattle Times reported.

Additional details of the shooting are expected to be released by the SPD Friday afternoon. The department could come under further heat for failing to de-escalate a situation, and resorting to deadly violence instead.

Spafford’s friends took to Facebook Friday, offering their condolences.

“Be kind,” friend David Little said on Facebook. “Everyone is fighting a hard battle.”

Kit

Sean Curtis

He was a good guy. Who made a bad decision.. we’ve all been desperate before. AND, for the record, he was LOVED BY HIS FRIENDS. He was like a fucking brother to me. I’m glad to see that your media network has been dragging his name through the mud like he was some deranged lunatic. You “reporters” are relentless.. get a real job. Stop spreading lies.

Ralph

asdf

every one has their issues but when you rob banks at gun point and get into high speed chases and run from the cops you become the bad guy and you must lay in the bed you make, sorry for your friend but im glad no one else got hurt

cwl

Dressed in drag? Pointing a gun at a defenseless person? High speed chase? Charging a cop with a knife? Great guy? Certainly not at that moment. He chose his outcome. Seattle police did their job! You people that question the outcome of the police actions would not be happy unless he killed a cop.